German-Sanskrit issue under Supreme Court lens
Centre will not allow unconstitutional decision taken by the previous government
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-11-22 01:02 GMT
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Union government seeking explanation for its decision to drop German as an alternative to Sanskrit as third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas, even as Union HRD minister Smriti Irani tried to defend the decision.
Ms Irani said that the government can only teach languages which are listed under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
“The Centre will not allow unconstitutional decision taken by the previous government,” she said on the sidelines of Hindu Education Conference held as part of the first World Hindu Congress in New Delhi.
The Union minister said that the controversy over German being replaced in KV schools has been created “deliberately” and asserted that its continuation as third language would have been a violation of the Constitution.
“File for renewal of German as third language came in September and the some people have created a controversy out of the issues in November. A gap of two months cle-arly shows that someone had deliberately created the controversy,” added Ms Irani.
She termed the whole Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the previous UPA government as illegal and unconstitutional.